Effects of Gangnam Style
"Gangnam Style" is a K-Pop song that was released on July 15, 2012, and achieved worldwide popularity within a few weeks of its release. The song influenced global popular culture and was hailed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as a "force for world peace". Its unprecedented worldwide popularity was acknowledged by YouTube, who called it a "massive" hit at a global level "unlike anything we've ever seen before" while Billboard noted that "Gangnam Style" was nothing short of a pop culture phenomenon. Agence France-Presse reported that while many believe "Gangnam Style" will ultimately prove to be a one-hit wonder, the song has shown surprising staying power as well as an unlikely ability to "penetrate international corridors of power". Effects In 2012, the South Korean government announced that "Gangnam Style" had brought in $13.4 million to the country’s audio sector. According to the Bank of Korea, the country's services account recorded a surplus of USD 2.3 billion in the first nine months of this year, compared to a deficit of USD 4.5 billion last year. This was mainly due to the growing influence and popularity of K-pop songs such as "Gangnam Style". The British multinational grocery and retailer Tesco reported that its total sales of Korean food had more than doubled as a result of the popularity of "Gangnam Style". Academia Dan Freeman, professor of marketing at the University of Delaware, remarks that Psy's achievement is an anomaly which counters the typical trend of successful international artists, because foreign music poses a difficult challenge due to language issues, making it unlikely for a song to catch on "when you don't even understand the words". Freeman asserts that Psy owes his success in the United States to YouTube, because of YouTube's effectiveness in reaching a broad market. According to a blog post published on the Harvard Business Review by Dae Ryun Chang, Professor of Marketing at Yonsei University, one primary factor that has contributed to "Gangnam Style"s international success is the song's intentional lack of a copyright. This allows people to easily adopt, re-stylize and then spread the song. Brian Gozun, Dean of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business at De La Salle University, writes that the absence of a copyright and the use of crowd-sourcing are just some of the more innovative ways that Psy has marketed his song. David Bell, marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that "Gangnam Style" lacks a certain aggressive attitude that many find offensive in the rap genre, and "Gangnam Style" is like a classic rap video from a few years ago with girls and cars—"not as offensive and in your face, but with a humorous edge". Bell argues that it is Psy's accessible image, not his message, that has made the song so popular. The French-born political commentator Tim Soutphommasane, a Research fellow at Monash University, agrees that the Gangnam phenomenon is "something worth studying". According to Soutphommasane, the world is only beginning to appreciate Gangnam Style as "part of a broader ''hallyu cultural wave'' coming out of the country Korea". The American Council on Exercise has estimated that dancing "Gangnam Style" will burn 150–200 calories per half hour. During his speech at the University of Vermont, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek brought up "Gangnam Style" as an example of a "pure ideological phenomenon". Sean Carey, a research fellow in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton wrote that "Gangnam Style" could be a "game-changer" for the international music scene. Carey explained that because of the song's popularity, leading figures in the recording industry believe that the flow of popular music will no longer be a single traffic route from North America and Europe to other parts of the globe, but will also move the other way as well. Mark Archibald, assistant director for global community engagement in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa brought up "Gangnam Style" as a song which transcends cultures. He explained that when viewed by an American audience, "Gangnam Style" is a "bunch of random Koreans doing goofy things", but to South Koreans it is a "parade of A-list celebrities". Archibald also noted that the song's popularity occurred in a cross-cultural context that occurs frequently in our everyday lives. The phrase "Gangnam Style" was listed in Time's weekly vocabulary list as a manner associated with lavish lifestyles in Seoul's Gangnam district. "Gangnam" was also included in the New Oxford American Dictionary. Flash mobs The earliest "Gangnam Style" flash mobs were held in Pasadena, California, and Sydney, Australia. On September 12, Times Square in Manhattan was filled with a flash mob dancing to the music of "Gangnam Style" during ABC's Good Morning America. Five days later, Psy appeared in a flash mob organized by the American entertainment TV show Extra in Los Angeles. The dress code was either "something comfortable" or "Psy-inspired clothing." A "Gangnam Style" flash mob in front of the Obelisco de Buenos Aires national monument in Argentina was shown on the national news programme Antes del Mediodía. Through social networks like Facebook, many other small, unofficial fan-organized flash mobs have also taken place in various places including: 800 at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta, hundreds of Silpakorn University students in Thailand, a flash mob at a food court in Sweden, more than 100 Cornell University students in Ithaca, New York, more than 250 students from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, inside the Mariscal López shopping mall in Asunción, Paraguay, at Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, at a K-Pop cover dance festival in Warsaw, Poland, at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Dolgoprudny, Russia, at Torgallmenningen in Bergen, Norway, during the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines, and at a Gay pride parade in Stockholm, Sweden. A few of these "Gangnam Style" flash mobs have attracted more than 1000 participants: References Category:Gangnam Style